Eskom must attract people with appropriate skills: Analyst

Energy Analyst and Managing Director of EE Publishers, Chris Yelland says expertise of the retired Absa Group Chief Executive, Maria Ramos might be brought in to lead the process of unbundling Eskom into three components.

Ramos’ appointment has however not been confirmed.

Speaking on to SABC, Yelland says Ramos comes with large capabilities of running big corporations.

The unbundling of the power utility is expected in June this year. The struggling Eskom allegedly came close to imploding financially in recent days.

Yelland says the unbundling of Eskom into three components will not solve its financial crisis.

In his budget speech in February, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni said pouring money directly into Eskom in its current form is like pouring water into a sieve. He announced that government was setting aside R23 billion a year over the next three years to financially support the power utility during its reconfiguration.

Mboweni says he has had to invoke Section 16 of the Public Finance Management Act and provide R5 billion liquidity to Eskom.

This comes after the failure by the China Development Bank to release on time an amount of R7 billion from a $2.5 billion facility reportedly due to its central bank exchange control requirements.

Eskom was at risk of not meeting its debt repayment obligations. Yelland says these funds will do nothing to fix the problems at Eskom.

He says Eskom has lost people with appropriate skills to run the organisation. “The loss of those skills is devastating to Eskom.”It is important for Eskom to attract people with the right skills from within the country and abroad because solutions will not be found in textbooks but rather in the correct expertise.”

Watch full interview below:

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